


an essay on dr henry jekyll and the enneagram

by skullnutz



Category: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: All characters besides Jekyll are only mentioned, Character Analysis, Character Study, Enneagram, Essays, Gen, Literary Analysis, Not a fic, Personality Analysis, sinxe this is a analysis of Jekyll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skullnutz/pseuds/skullnutz
Summary: For those who are into the enneagram, I want you to picture a type eight. They're strong, protective, assertive, and even a bit ego-centric. Now, I want you to imagine Dr. Henry Jekyll. I'm going to bet that those images were most likely  not the same because, how could Dr. Jekyll be a type eight? Well, that's what I'm going to explain! In this essay, I'll be covering how Jekyll is a type eight based on an eight's biggest fears and desires, an eight's key motivations, and the unhealthy levels on eight.Or, in other words, an essay I wrote for fun because of a textpost I made and a few online friends asking to read it!
Kudos: 5





	an essay on dr henry jekyll and the enneagram

**Author's Note:**

> I added the 'Major Character Death' tag because I'll  
> be mentioning how at the end of the book Jekyll k/lls himself, but it is very brief. I hope you enjoy this analysis of Dr. Henry Jekyll!

For those who are into the enneagram, I want you to picture a type eight. They're strong, protective, assertive, and even a bit ego-centric. Now, I want you to imagine Dr. Henry Jekyll. I'm going to bet that those images were most likely not the same because, how could Dr. Jekyll be a type eight? Well, that's what I'm going to explain! In this essay, I'll be covering how Jekyll is a type eight based on an eight's biggest fears and desires, an eight's key motivations, and the unhealthy levels on eight. 

First off, we'll start with an eight's biggest fear and their biggest desire. An eight's biggest fear is to not be in control of their life or to be harmed by others and their biggest desire is to be in control of not only their life, but their destiny. Now, we can see this is pretty common in Jekyll. He doesn't tell Lanyon or Utterson about him also being Hyde until he has too, not just because he's scared of them hurting him with this information, but that he's scared of being vulnerable and not in control of the situation. In the very last chapter of _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ , we see how Hyde starts to gain full control. Jekyll is utterly terrified of the idea that someone besides himself would be in control, so instead of giving up control, he k/lls himself. This is a really good example of unhealthy levels of type eights, which we'll cover soon. 

Next, we'll be looking at an eight's key motivations. So, what motivates an eight? They want to be self-reliant, to prove their strength and resist weakness, to be important in their world, to dominate their environment, and to stay in control of the situation. Once again, these are very common in Jekyll's character. When he locks himself up in his laboratory for days on end, internally fighting with Hyde, what is his motivation for that? Why didn't he tell his friends or ask for help sooner? Why didn't he just give up when Hyde was trying to take control? Because, he wanted to prove he was strong enough, to rely on himself, and because he wanted to stay in control. 

And finally, we'll talking about the unhealthy levels of an eight, specifically level nine. Level nine is the highest level of an eight, and when eights are at a level nine and experience some sort of danger, they will destroy everything that has not conformed to what they want than rather surrender to others. Sound familiar? Over the course of the book, Jekyll becomes so scared of losing control, he would destroy anything, even himself, to stop others from controlling him. He's not just scared of surrendering just because of who Hyde is, but also because of being controlled is his biggest fear, so much so that he would go to extreme levels to achieve being in control.

In conclusion, Dr. Henry Jekyll is a type eight because he's scared of not being in control, he shares the same motivations as a type eight, and because the unhealthy levels of a type eight describe him almost perfectly. Once again, I want you to picture a type eight and the Jekyll. Are they more similar images this time?

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted [here!!](https://radioactivescientist.tumblr.com/post/621200580569874432/an-essay-on-dr-jekyll-and-the-enneagram)


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